Wingbeats and Heartbeats
by PrincessTadashi
Summary: (Tinkerbell AU) When Tadashi, a tinker talent, falls for the shy scribe talent, Fred, in the Fairy Haven library, he wonders if it's possible for the other sparrow man to actually share his feelings. And when Hiro first lays eyes on the newly arrived animal talent, Ezra, he can't help but wonder why he feels such a strong connection to someone he's just met. (Fredashi, Hezra)
1. Chapter 1

It was a beautiful day in Pixie Hollow. The sun was shining, there was a light breeze blowing, and everywhere fairies were preparing for the upcoming Fairy Dance. Usually Tadashi would have slowed down to enjoy his flight-take in the sights and sounds, maybe stop to offer assistance to any of the fairies or sparrow men who looked like they might need his help. But right now he was on a mission that involved the bark bound book clutched tightly to his chest and his full focus was on getting to his destination in time.

"Hey!" The fairy swiftly catching up to him had to call his name three times before the distracted sparrow man finally took notice of her.

"Oh, hey GoGo!" he answers when he finally spots her, freeing one arm from its death grip on the book to wave to her.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" the raven haired fairy asks, crossing her arms over her chest and easily keeping up with him, even while flying backwards. "Are you planning to try out to become a fast flyer? 'Cause I'm pretty sure that ship has long since sailed, Dashi."

"No!" Tadashi laughs. "No offense to your talent, but I'm perfectly happy being a tinker, thank you very much!"

"Right." GoGo flashes him a playful smirk before asking, "But you didn't answer my earlier question: Where are you headed?"

"Oh, y'know, just the library," Tadashi answers, shrugging and trying to appear casual.

"I see." GoGo's smirk widens. "You're going to see him again, aren't you?"

"What? I don't know what you're talking about!" Tadashi protests although he could already feel a warm blush blooming on his cheeks. Of course he knew what she was talking about-his brother, Hiro, had been teasing him about the exact same thing as he'd prepared to hurry out of their workshop at exactly a quarter to five that afternoon. Even though they'd been born from the same laugh (a rarity, but not something completely unheard of) and were even in the same talent, Hiro had always appeared slightly younger than Tadashi in appearance (the fact that he was on the small side, even for a fairy, probably didn't help) and he often acted like he was less mature than his elder by thirty seconds sibling as well.

"Have fun seeing your boyfriend!" Hiro had told him with a knowing smile as he works to put away his tools for the day (not that his side of the workshop was ever actually clean, but he did take good care of his tools, at least.)

"Neverland, Hiro, he's not my boyfriend!" Tadashi had protested, almost dropping the book he'd been carefully pulling out of his satchel.

"Sure he's not…" Hiro drawls. "So you just stare at him across the tea room and visit him in the library every chance you get because he's not your boyfriend?"

"It's… It's complicated," Tadashi mumbles, knowing that his glow must already be turning pink to match the blush on his face-gosh, sometimes he really hated the fact that being a fairy meant that his emotions were so easily on display for everyone to see. And the truth was that it was complicated, at least to an extent. In Pixie Hollow, the population was mainly dominated by fairies-for whatever reason, the amount of sparrow men just wasn't that large. That said, most sparrow men, upon arrival, were quickly set upon by fairy suitors who were hoping for dates to dances and other special events and, hopefully, long term relationships. It wasn't unheard of for two fairies to become romantically involved-for example, Tadashi's potion making talent friend Honey Lemon and GoGo had been dating for quite some time. But Tadashi was a little different-he actually found himself attracted to other sparrow men, but the longer he'd lived in Pixie Hollow the longer he realized just how difficult it was to find someone who shared his sentiments. It wasn't that anyone thought it was wrong or disgusting for him to be attracted to someone of the same gender, it just wasn't that common of an occurrence and so he had pretty much resigned himself to the fact that it would probably be a very long time, if ever, before he actually found a romantic partner. It would have been easier to just start going out with a fairy, sure-he certainly had a number who had tried asking him out over the years-but he was a strong enough person to not be willing to compromise himself just because he was lonely. Not that he really was that lonely-he had Hiro and GoGo and Honey Lemon, as well as their friend Wasabi (another tinkering talent sparrow man) and so he honestly felt he had all the people in his life that he really needed. That is, until the day that he'd met Fred.

Tadashi didn't get to visit the library as much as he liked-most fairies forgot that the out of the way room even existed, but Tadashi was a major book worm and he loved to visit every chance he could get to borrow books to read. It really didn't matter what the book's subject was on, as long it had words he could spend hours curled up in his favorite nook of Pixie Hollow's only cherry blossom tree just reading away. A few months ago, though, he'd found a shelf in the library filled with books that were something of a rarity on Neverland-novels. Actual novels! Most of the books in the library were filled with history or helpful information for different talents. Books that told stories outside of common fairy lore were few and far between. But here was a full shelf just full of stories-and not just regular stories about fairies, but stories written about Clumsies (humans, if you wanted to use the Clumsy's name for themselves) living on the the Main Land and about the other creatures who lived on Neverland. They had all been written by the same author, signing himself "Fred", and Tadashi had eagerly checked out each volume in turn, finishing every one with his hunger for more stories only growing stronger. It had been with great disappointment that he'd finally finished the last of the books, hating that his world of adventure was over. Still, the stories were so good that he'd decided to read them again. And again. And again. Hiro told him that he was going to wear the ink right off the pages if he didn't stop, but he really didn't care-it wasn't like anyone else seemed to be reading the books, so why should it matter? He was going to enjoy them for as long as they held out. He even considered seeing if he could get one of the scribe talents to copy the stories over for him so that he could have his own copies, but scribe talents tended to be very private and kept to themselves so it was harder to find one than one might think.

Then, one day when he'd was in the library preparing to borrow his favorite book in the set for probably the fortieth time, something amazing had happened-right on the end was a new book. A new book! How amazing was that? Instantly he feels his heart leap in his chest as he reaches for it, only to feel his heart leap again when he finds someone else's hand already on the volume.

"O-oh, I'd fly backwards if I could!" he apologizes, quickly pulling his hand away as he turns to see a sparrow man hovering next to him, looking just as surprised as he felt.

"No, no, it's fine!" the sparrow man answers, blush tinging pink around the edges with apparent embarrassment.

"Were you going to check that out?" Tadashi asks, hating the thought of having to wait to read the new story but not wanting to be rude since the other sparrow man had found it first.

"Oh, no, I'm not checking it out," the stranger answers, chuckling nervously. "I was actually going to take it back for some edits-I thought it was done, but something about chapter five just still doesn't feel right to me… It's driving me crazy, I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong, but I can't in good conscience let anyone read it until it's absolutely perfect. Not that anyone actually reads my work, but I have to appease my imaginary audience, y'know?" He flashes Tadashi a wry, slightly self-deprecating smile, but the other man wasn't really paying attention to the last part of what he'd said, still trying to process the earlier part.

"O-oh my Neverland!" he finally manages to get out. "Y-You're Fred! You're the one who wrote all these books!"

"Yeah, I am," the other sparrow man agrees, expression changing to curious and slightly hopeful. "Have you read any of them?"

"Read any of them?! I've read all of them, like, fifty times!" Tadashi cries, wings fluttering eagerly. "They're _amazing_!"

"Really?" Fred's glow instantly turns bright pink again even as an embarrassed grin crosses his face.

"Yeah! I was so sad when I finished all of them, so I've just been rereading them over and over again!" Tadashi answers. "I was so excited when I saw there was a new one! Now I can't believe that I'm actually meeting the author! This is pretty much the coolest thing ever!"

"Okay, now you're just trying to make me blush!" Fred laughs, turning even brighter pink.

"No, I'm being completely serious!" Tadashi replies, trying to keep from blushing himself when his brain makes a mental note of just how cute Fred looked when he was blushing-no, he couldn't think like that, there was almost no chance that he was actually into sparrow men in that way, and he couldn't go making this new potential friendship weird!

"Maybe you can help me!" Fred suddenly says, startling Tadashi out of his thoughts.

"What? How?" Tadashi asks, trying to focus on the conversation at hand and not on how he wanted to run his hands through the other sparrow man's hair to see if it was as soft as it looked.

"I can't figure out what's wrong with chapter 5, but maybe since you're a new pair of eyes you could read it and tell me what you think!" Fred answers eagerly.

"Wow, um, sure!" Tadashi agrees just as eagerly. "I'd be honored to help you out!"

"Great!" Fred pulls the book the rest of the way off of the shelf and presses it into Tadashi's hands. "How long do you think it will take you to finish reading it?"

"Knowing how much I've been looking forward to this? Maybe a day?" Tadashi answers.

"Wow, really?" Fred raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm a fast reader!" Tadashi tells him with a laugh.

"Good to know!" Fred chuckles before saying, "Still, allowing for something unexpected to happen-I know talent stuff can happen, no matter how well intentioned someone is-maybe meet up in two days?"

"Sure!" Tadashi agrees, trying not to sound too eager.

"Epic! Where would you like to meet?"

"Well, um… Do you know the _sakura_ tree out in the orchard?"

"Sure I do! I go there sometimes to sit and get ideas!"

"Wow, really? I'm the same way!"

"No way-you serious?"

"Totally serious!"

"That's so crazy! I can't believe that we haven't seen each other before!"

"Same," Tadashi agrees, knowing that he would have definitely remembered Fred if he had caught a glimpse of him.

"All right, so, we'll meet up there in two days-say, around 5-ish?"

"Sounds perfect!"

"I'll see you then!"

"See you!" Tadashi agrees, holding the book tightly to his chest as Fred waves and flies off into the library before turning and flying out out into the main passageway, determined to finish reading this story in record time so he'd be ready for their next meeting.

After their initial meeting at the cherry blossom tree, whether by design or chance, the two sparrow men fell into the habit of getting together every afternoon at 5. Sometimes they talked books and story ideas-Fred loved having someone to finally bounce ideas off of, and Tadashi was more than happy to just sit and listen to him go on for hours, although he also glad to provide feedback whenever it was requested. But other days they'd just go off and have short adventures together-visiting the gardens, watching the water fairies playing on Havendish Stream, exploring corners of Pixie Hollow that they'd never really had the urge to go to until they had someone special to go with them. Fred sometimes brought Tadashi to his writer's workshop where he wrote and bound all his books and they'd have tea while they talked. Once Tadashi brought Fred by the workshop he shared with Hiro, and the scribe had been so enthusiastic about Tadashi's inventions that the poor tinker's glow had been pink for days. For some reason Tadashi hadn't introduced Fred to his friends yet-he didn't ignore them if they saw him while they were out together, but he hadn't officially introduced any of them. Part of it was that, as selfish as it sounded, he enjoyed having Fred all to himself. The bigger part of it, though, was knowing that if and when he did, the others were going to make a big deal out of it and possibly ruin everything he'd built of their relationship so far-the way that his friends were forever teasing him about his "boyfriend", if they said anything like that in front of Fred he might end up losing the sparrow man he considered one of his best friends for forever, and that was something he couldn't risk happening. Or, he had thought that was something he couldn't. More recently, though, he was finding it harder and harder to be around the other sparrow man without completely zoning out of their conversation, his mind getting distracted with wondering what it might be like to have Fred as his boyfriend-to be able to fly around Pixie Hollow while holding hands, maybe to even be able to kiss him. He didn't want to stop being friends-he never wanted that to happen, this friendship was one of the most important things in his life. He wasn't even sure he wanted the type of relationship that he saw others having with all the big, fancy romantic gestures. Just knowing that he was Fred's and that Fred was his would be more than enough.

That's why, today, he'd decided to finally take the chance. With the Fairy Dance coming up, what better time did he have to officially ask Fred out? It was still scary to think of doing something so daring, and there was the danger that Fred might want to stop seeing him if he knew that he wanted to be with him in a way that was more than friends. But it was tell Fred the truth or risk going crazy, so he was going to finally take the plunge. He knew that he was doing the right thing, but he could only hope to Mother Dove that he wouldn't end up regretting this later.

After finally managing to get GoGo off his tail (still making jabs about his "boyfriend" as she flew off), he heads into the Home Tree, flying through the passageways until he finally reaches the library.

"All right, deep breaths, Tadashi. You can do this," he mentally coaches himself before pushing the door open and flying inside. As usual, the library was empty except for one or two fairies who were poring over ancient looking tomes, so he has no problem flitting his way through until he reaches the back and gingerly knocks on the oak door that lead into Fred's workshop.

"Come in!" the sparrow man's familiar voice calls, and Tadashi takes another deep breath before pushing the door open.

"Tadashi, hey!" Fred grins up at him as he sees him walk in. "Sorry I'm not quite ready to go yet-I'm in the middle of a scene, but I promise it won't take much longer!"

"It's okay!" Tadashi reassures him, wincing when his voice comes out in a slight squeak. "Take your time," he adds, trying to get his voice back to normal.

"Okay…" Fred flashes him a curious if slight concerned glance before going back to scribbling on the leaf pages in front of him. While he works, Tadashi automatically starts pacing in the small space that he had, not even thinking about what he was doing until suddenly he hears Fred's voice asking, "Dashi, what's wrong?"

"What? Wrong? Nothing's wrong! Why would you think something was wrong?" Tadashi asks, instantly knowing that he'd overdone it and made things only that much more obvious.

"Tadashi, you know that you can tell me if something's bothering you, right?" Fred says gently, standing up and coming over to him, making the other sparrow man swallow hard because suddenly he was _right there_.

"I, um… Y-yeah, I know," Tadashi finally answers shakily. "It's… There's something I want to ask you, but I'm kind of scared too…"

"Why would you be scared?" Fred asks, concern filling those big beautiful blue eyes of his that always made Tadashi want to melt.

"I… I just don't want to make things weird or ruin our friendship, y'know?" he says quietly.

"You could never do anything that would make me stop wanting to be your friend," Fred replies firmly, taking one of Tadashi's hands in his own.

Tadashi nods, finding the fact that Fred was, of his own accord, holding his hand exactly what he needed to give him the courage to say what he needed to say. "I was wondering… If maybe you'd like to go to the Fairy Dance with me?" he finally manages to get out.

"...Like, as a friend?" Fred asks slowly.

"No, I mean as my date," Tadashi answers, swallowing hard as he searches Fred's carefully guarded expression for any sign one way or the other. Oh man, this had probably been a huge mista-

"Oh man, Dashi." Suddenly Fred's grinning, wrapping his arms around Tadashi's waist. "I had no idea you felt the same way."

"W-Wait, does this mean…?" Tadashi asks hopefully.

"Yes, I'd love to go to the dance with you!" Fred answers, hugging him.

"T-This is amazing!" Tadashi cries, happily hugging him back. "Thank you…"

"No, thank you!" Fred smiles up at him before admitting shyly, "I've had a huge crush on you pretty much since the day we met, but I had no idea that you actually liked me back…"

"Same," Tadashi chuckles. "I was scared to ask you out because I thought you'd want to stop hanging out if you knew that I actually liked you and you didn't feel the same way…"

"I'd never want to stop being your friend, even if I didn't return the feelings," Fred reassures him. "But trust me, I totally do, so there's nothing to be worried about now." He contentedly nuzzles against the other sparrow man. "I'm just sorry I didn't have the courage to ask you out myself…"

"Hey, the important thing is that we both know now, right?" Tadshi answers, happily nuzzling Fred back.

"Yeah, definitely!" Fred smiles up at him. "But, since you were the one who asked me out, I guess it's only fair that I initiate the next thing!"

"And what exactly is that?" Tadashi asks, raising a curiously amused eyebrow.

"This." Fred pulls him into a gentle kiss, which, after a moment of surprise, Tadashi happily returns. It was more magical than he ever could have imagined, and he could only hope that every one after this would be just as magical. No-he _knew_ that they would be. As long as he was with Fred, every day would be full of magic, and he couldn't wait to see what the future held for them.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hiro!"

The raven haired sparrow man with hair that greatly resembled dandelion fluff looks up from his work to see his brother standing in the doorway. The two had been born from the same laugh, although his elder by thirty seconds sibling was a good head taller than him, making Hiro appear a good deal younger even though fairies arrive on Neverland almost completely matured. All the same, right now the elder sibling looks flushed and excited, and as he puts down his hammer, Hiro can't help but draw playfully, "Dashi, if you just came to give me the play by play of your last makeout session with Fred, I'm good, thanks."

"What? Hiro, gross, no! Don't be such a knucklehead!" Tadashi cries, his glow tinging pink with embarrassment.

Hiro quietly cracks up at his own joke-he knew that his brother would never share such intimate details about his time with his boyfriend, but he couldn't resist messing with him whenever he could. Still, apparently Tadashi had some sort of major news to share, so he asks in a more serious tone, "What's up?"

"There's a new laugh coming!" Tadashi answers with a grin. "I thought you might like to come watch the arrival!"

"Yeah!" Hiro grins, instantly flying over to join his brother at the door-new laughs weren't a complete rarity, but they were still something special, and every fairy and sparrow man who could be spared came to welcome the new arrival, all desperately hoping that the new fairy or sparrow man might be a part of their talent group.

"C'mon then!" Tadashi smiles and waves for his sibling to follow him, and together they head for the courtyard, which were where most fairies arrived. By the time that they get there, it seems like all of Pixie Hollow had turned out to greet the newcomer. Fortunately, though, the brother's friends, GoGo, Honey Lemon, Wasabi, and Fred, had saved spots for them and so they settle onto the tree branch next to them to wait for the laugh that would turn into the new fairy to arrive.

A hush falls over the crowd as the laugh comes dancing into the courtyard. Laughs were hard to see-almost invisible except for a slight shimmer-but, like happened to many laughs, this one had gotten something stuck to it as it had traveled. A bluebird's feather that had gently curled around it, making the laugh more visible. Beyond being able to see it, though, the fairies could just feel the newcomer's presence, and they all held their breath as the laugh flew to the ground and with a final burst of energy bunched itself together to create-

A sparrow man. Everyone lets out a quiet sigh and smiles as they see the newcomer for the first time. He had medium toned skin, dark blue hair, and his arrival garment seemed to be made of orange and brown autumn leaves. It was tradition to wait for the new arrival to announce their name and talent before saying anything, so they all remain quiet while the new sparrow man gets his bearings, taking in his surroundings with the curiosity of a chick leaving the nest for the first time. Hiro couldn't help but smile at the sight-usually he got pretty impatient during these first few moments, wanting like everyone else to find out what the newcomer's talent was. But for some reason with this one he didn't mind just watching and waiting. Then suddenly, as if sensing the sparrow man's gaze on him, the new arrival turns towards him, and Hiro has a sharp intake of breath as suddenly his gaze was met by two brilliant blue eyes. His heart started beating a staccato rhythm in his chest-why had the new sparrow man looked at him, of all those present? Did arrivals even usually make eye contact right off the bat? Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was indeed looking directly at him as the newcomer announces, "My name is Ezra. I'm an animal talent!"

Hiro couldn't shake a deep sense of disappointment-even more than he usually would have had-at the fact that the sparrow man wasn't in his talent, his wings even sagging slightly by the announcement. And as the animal talent fairies present swarm to welcome Ezra into their talent group, he couldn't help but feel like Ezra was watching him and looking, of all things, slightly betrayed that he wasn't coming down to welcome him as well. But he wasn't in his talent group, so how could he? Wouldn't it seem strange for a tinker talent to invade something that was specifically meant for animal talents? The others would probably tie his wings in a knot if he just came barging in like that. Still, a few minutes later as the animal talents start to lead Ezra away and the crowd disperses, Hiro can't get that hurt look out of his mind. It was like he just couldn't leave the new arrival alone, and so, making sure that no one was watching, he takes off after the little group-following at a distance so as not to be seen, but following all the same. He wasn't sure exactly what was making him do this-usually he could care less about anyone outside of his friend group (not that he was unfriendly, he just didn't have time for more than a few people in his life) but for some reason, he just had to stay close to Ezra. He honestly felt that he was doing a pretty good job of staying hidden until, at one point during the tour, the sparrow man suddenly turns back and smiles at him, causing Hiro to duck behind a leaf, heart pounding and glow turning bright pink. What was wrong with him?! Why was he feeling like this? But as soon as the others take off for their next destination, he finds himself following them yet again.

Eventually the animal talents end the tour by leaving Ezra in the Home Tree's courtyard, explaining to him that his room would be ready by that evening and how to use the directory to find it, as well as what time dinner would be served in the tea room, before leaving him alone for some much needed "breathing" time-giving him a few moments to process everything that had happened and have a chance to maybe explore around a bit on his own. At the risk of looking like a stalker now that the others were gone, Hiro decides that it's probably time to go-after all, he had work to do and Tadashi would probably start worrying about him if he stayed missing for too much longer without a good explanation. He prepares to fly off in the direction of his workshop when suddenly he hears a voice-Ezra's voice-calling out, "Hey!"

Finding himself blushing yet again (why did he keep doing that?), Hiro forces himself to turn back around and stay put until the other sparrow man, who was currently flying towards him, arrives at the branch he was standing on.

"Hey," Ezra says with a slight smile as he lands lightly next to him.

"Hey yourself," Hiro answers, not quite able to meet his gaze.

"I've been watching you," Ezra tells him, taking a step closer. "I saw you when I arrived. And you've been following me since then, haven't you?"

"I, um… You kind of looked like you wanted me too…" Hiro answers, now feeling completely stupid for having done that.

"I did," Ezra replies with a smile. "I was wondering why you didn't come down with the others."

"I'm not in your talent group, so I wasn't sure I was allowed…" Hiro mumbles, staring down at his feet.

"I certainly wouldn't have minded," Ezra answers, sitting down on the branch and motioning for the other sparrow man to sit next to him. Hiro wasn't sure why, but he did, feeling himself blushing even more when Ezra closes the gap he'd left between him.

"Why did you pick me out like that?" Hiro asks, hoping for some answers. "I mean, there were all those fairies and sparrow men there…"

"I don't know," Ezra admits with a slight shrug. "I just… Did. I feel drawn to you for some reason."

"O-oh…" Hiro feels his blush increasing at that.

"Yeah." Ezra starts playfully swinging his legs back and forth. "So… If you're not an animal talent, what are you?"

"Tinker talent," Hiro answers, unable to keep a note of pride out of his voice.

"Interesting…" Ezra's penetrating gaze never leaves him as he says, "Tell me about it. What exactly do you do?"

Despite his initial reservations, Hiro finds himself telling Ezra about his latest projects, and then about his favorite projects-the easy ones, the hard ones, and the downright weird ones-and, no matter how long he talked his companion never seemed to get tired of listening, always ready with another question the moment he thought he'd run out of things to tell him about.

"We probably should be heading for dinner," Hiro tells him when he notices that the sun is starting to go down.

"All right," Ezra agrees, and he flutters off the branch before looking at his companion expectantly. "Aren't you going to fly with me?" he asks when the other sparrow man doesn't move.

"Oh, um… Sure?" Hiro answers, flushing slightly as he flies up to join him. He didn't know why he felt so weird about flying Ezra to dinner, but he decides to just push those feelings aside and just go with it. The other sparrow man catches him off guard again as he suddenly grabs his hand, Hiro stammering out, "W-what are you doing?"

"I don't know." Ezra shrugs slightly and then smiles at him. "It just feels nice."

"O-okay then…" Hiro wasn't sure how to feel about this, but he decides to just go with it-if it made Ezra happy, why complain, right? If anything, he felt a small glow in his chest as they fly together and if it felt this good certainly nothing could be wrong with it, right? Still, when they enter the tea room, Hiro lets go of Ezra's hand, knowing that they would be heading to their separate tables. But Ezra surprises him yet again by continuing to follow him like a loyal pet chipmunk.

"Ezra, you need to go sit with your talent," Hiro tells him gently as he turns around to address him.

"Why?" Ezra asks, his head tilting in a way that was not at all adorable as he looks at the other sparrow man in confusion.

"It's just how things are done here," Hiro answers as patiently as he can, even though he can feel many pairs of eyes on him, watching the exchange. "Everyone sits with their talents."

"But I want to sit with you," Ezra states matter-of-factly.

"And I'd love to have you sit with me, but your talent might think I'm trying to steal you if I had you sit with me," Hiro replies, noticing that the animal talents were all giving him slightly dirty looks.

"I wouldn't mind that," Ezra tells him, his smile going slightly mischievous and making Hiro blush yet again.

"Please, let's just not cause a big scene," Hiro pleads quietly with him. "I promise we can hang out after supper, okay?"

"Okay!" Ezra agrees, brightening at that, squeezing Hiro's hands before heading over to join his own table.

Hiro finds himself sinking into his own chair as soon as he reaches the tinkers' table-it was nice to have a moment to breathe when Ezra had him all tied up in knots inside. But he didn't have much of a chance to relax before Tadashi was playfully elbowing him under the table.

"So… Did you have fun with your new beaux?" he asks, giving Hiro a teasing grin.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Hiro groans, burying his head in his hands. Really, Tadashi? He was doing this right now?

"I just assumed that's where you were all afternoon!" Tadashi answers, playing innocent.

"Now why would you assume that?" Hiro sighs.

"Maybe because I had a lot of people telling me that they'd spotted you following the animal talents showing the new sparrow man around like you were a little lost bumble bee?" Tadashi replies playfully.

"What-? How-?" And now Hiro felt even more embarrassed-apparently his attempts to be subtle had totally backfired on him.

"Oh, c'mon, it's nothing to be ashamed of!" Tadashi says with a more sympathetic smile. "I think it's sweet that you have crush on the new sparrow man."

"C-Crush? Who said anything about having a crush?" Hiro stammers out, eyes going wide-oh gosh, he didn't have crush on Ezra, did he?

"Your glow has been pink pretty much since you first saw him, so either you're really sick or else you are majorly crushing!" Tadashi chuckles.

Hiro felt his stomach churning slightly. Did he actually have a crush on Ezra? Sure he'd been a little nervous around him, but he tended to be nervous around most people, especially ones he hadn't met before. And it wasn't like he found Ezra's gorgeous blue eyes or ridiculously soft looking hair at all attractive…

"You honestly didn't notice?" Tadashi asks, flashing him a slightly amused but also sympathetic smile.

"No…" Hiro answers, burying his face in his hands again.

"Hey, it's going to be okay." Tadashi gently rubs his back as the serving talents start to bring out the first course. "You may be oblivious, but he totally likes you, so you don't have anything to worry about."

"How do you know that?" Hiro asks, risking a glance up at him.

"Hiro, he wanted to sit with you over sitting with his own talent! I'd say that's a pretty good sign right there!"

"Yeah?"

"Yes! Just talk to him after dinner and you can get this all sorted out."

"I guess so…" Hiro answers uncertainly.

"Trust me, you'll be fine!"

Despite his brother's encouraging words, Hiro found that he wasn't able to eat much dinner that night, too nervous about what was to come. That's why, the instant Ezra got up from his own table, Hiro quickly flies over to meet him at the door-he probably wouldn't have been able to eat anything else, anyways, so he didn't have any reason to stay there.

"Hey," he greets Ezra softly.

"Hey yourself," Ezra answers with a slight smile.

"Can we talk-y'know, outside?" Hiro asks, not wanting the whole tea room to be watching this.

"Sure!" Ezra agrees, smiling and taking the other sparrow man's hand again, leading him out into the hallway, and this time Hiro couldn't help but feel a tiny current running between them as he did so.

"So, um… I was talking to my brother…" Hiro begins awkwardly when they're out of hearing range of most of the others.

"And I was talking to the others in my talent!" Ezra answers brightly. "They were asking a lot of questions about me and you!"

"T-They were?" Hiro asks, not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Yep!" Ezra agrees. "And a lot of them were saying that apparently I have something called a 'crush' on you!"

"O-oh!" Hiro finds himself blushing yet again. "D-Do you know what that means?" he finally manages to get out-could Ezra really be this innocent and oblivious?

"Mm… Nope, not really!" Ezra admits with a laugh. Okay, yes. Apparently he could. "But…" the other sparrow man continues with a slight smile, "I guess that's what you call it when you feel about someone the way I feel about you?"

"And how do you feel about me?" Hiro asks, heart fluttering in his chest.

"Like… I never want to stop spending time with you? And when I'm not with you like I can feel it in my chest that I have to get back to you? And seeing you always makes me smile and I want to hold your hand and let everyone know that we're together in a really special way?" Ezra answers, obviously trying to find the right words.

"W-wow… I… I've never had anyone say anything like that to me before..." Hiro admits, ducking his head slightly. "I-I'm honestly not sure if I like you back… Y'know, that way? I mean, for me at least, this is happening really, really fast… But, still... I think I'd be willing to give it a try…?"

"Yeah?" Ezra grins at that.

"Yeah," Hiro agrees with a small smile.

"Awesome!" Ezra pulls Hiro into a spontaneous hug which the sparrow man, after stiffening for a second, happily returns.

"So… Where do we go from here?" Hiro finally asks.

"What do you mean? Is there somewhere we have to go?" Ezra answers curiously.

"No, I meant… Y'know what, forget it. This is good," Hiro replies with a slight smile, shaking his head in amusement even as he gently squeezes Ezra's hands. "This is really, really good."

"Good!" Ezra practically beams at that.

"So, um… Want to go watch the fireflies with me or something?" Hiro asks-maybe it was kind of cheesy, but he'd always thought that the fireflies at night were something really magical, and he suddenly found that it was something that he wanted to share with his new potential boyfriend.

"Sure!" Ezra agrees with a grin.

"C'mon, then!" Hiro laughs, gently tugging on his hand and Ezra eagerly following behind him. Maybe this was the strangest start to a relationship that he'd ever heard of, but it was perfect for them, and that's all that mattered.


End file.
